Again and again, Transgender people are lumped in with Lesbian and Gays not withstanding the fact Transgender people have a completely different set of issues and Transgender people are being horrifically murdered on a daily basis.
Promises have been made by the Obama Administration and not kept, i.e. a fully inclusive Employment Non Discrimination Act. Yes, ENDA is still in Congress but stalled.
Will ENDA get watered down like the supposed Health Care Bill? Will ENDA be fully inclusive? Only time will tell.
by Rex Wockner
Bay Windows Contributor
Monday Dec 28, 2009
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has denounced Uganda’s "kill the gays" bill during an appearance at Georgetown University.
She also addressed anti-gay activity in Iraq and Iran.
"Over this past year, we have elevated into our human rights dialogues and our public statements a very clear message about protecting the rights of the LGBT community worldwide," Clinton said. "And we are particularly concerned about some of the specific cases that have come to our attention around the world. There have been organized efforts to kill and maim gays and lesbians in some countries that we have spoken out about, and also conveyed our very strong concerns about to their governments -- not that they were governmentally implemented or even that the government was aware of them, but that the governments need to pay much greater attention to the kinds of abuses that we’ve seen in Iraq, for example."
"We are deeply concerned," she continued, "about some of the stories coming out of Iran. In large measure, in reaction, we think, to the response to the elections back in June, there have been abuses committed within the detention facilities and elsewhere that we are deeply concerned about. And then the...piece of legislation in Uganda, which would not only criminalize homosexuality but attach the death penalty to it. We have expressed our concerns directly, indirectly, and we will continue to do so. The bill has not gone through the Ugandan legislature, but it has a lot of public support by various groups, including religious leaders in Uganda. And we view it as a very serious potential violation of human rights.
"So it is clear that across the world this is a new frontier in the minds of many people about how we protect the LGBT community, but it is at the top of our list because we see many instances where there is a very serious assault on the physical safety and an increasing effort to marginalize people. And we think it’s important for the United States to stand against that and to enlist others to join us in doing so.".....ORIGINAL ARTICLE
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